Concept explainers
Seat belts and air bags save lives by reducing the forces exerted on the driver and passengers in an automobile collision. Cars are designed with a “crumple zone” in the front of the car. In the event of an impact, the passenger compartment decelerates over a distance of about 1 m as the front of the car crumples. An occupant restrained by seat belts and air bags decelerates with the car. By contrast, an unrestrained occupant keeps moving forward with no loss of speed (Newton’s first law!) until hitting the dashboard or windshield, as we saw in Figure 4.2. These are unyielding surfaces, and the unfortunate occupant then decelerates over a distance of only about 5 mm.
a. A 60 kg person is in a head-on collision. The car’s speed at impact is 15 m/s. Estimate the net force on the person if he or she is wearing a seat belt and if the air bag deploys.
b. Estimate the net force that ultimately stops the person if he or she is not restrained by a seat belt or air bag.
c. How do these two forces compare to the person’s weight?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 5 Solutions
College Physics: A Strategic Approach (3rd Edition)
Additional Science Textbook Solutions
Human Anatomy & Physiology (2nd Edition)
Campbell Essential Biology (7th Edition)
Chemistry: Structure and Properties (2nd Edition)
Genetic Analysis: An Integrated Approach (3rd Edition)
Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach, Vol. 1 (Chs 1-21) (4th Edition)
Introductory Chemistry (6th Edition)
- Seat belts and air bags save lives by reducing the forces exerted on the driver and passengers in an automobile collision. Cars are designed with a "crumple zone" in the front of the car. In the event of an impact, the passenger compartment decelerates over a distance of about 1 m as the front of the car crumples. An occupant restrained by seat belts and air bags decelerates with the car. By contrast, an unrestrained occupant keeps moving forward with no loss of speed (Newton's first law!) until hitting the dashboard or windshield. These are unyielding surfaces, and the unfortunate occupant then decelerates over a distance of only about 5 mm. Part A A 64 kg person is in a head-on collision. The car's speed at impact is 12 m/s. Estimate the net force on the person if he or she is wearing a seat belt and if the air bag deploys. Express your answer to two significant figures and include the appropriate units. Fnet = Submit Part B Fnet = Submit μÁ Provide Feedback Value Request Answer…arrow_forwardA 1700 kg car is driving down a highway at a constant velocity when a deer jumps out onto the road 59.6 m ahead. The coefficient of friction between the car tires and the road is 0.21. Calculate the initial velocity of the car if it is able to stop just before hitting the deer. (You do not need to account for reaction time of the driver. Assuming the car is breaking the entire 59.6 m distance and that friction is the only force stopping the car.) v0 = m/sarrow_forwardA 2110 kg car traveling at 8.4 m/s collides with a 2730kg car that is initially at rest at the stoplight. The cars stick together and move 3.30 m before friction causes them to stop. Determine the coefficient of kinetic friction between the cars and the road, assuming that the negative acceleration is constant and that all wheels on both cars lock at the time of impact.arrow_forward
- You go trick-or-treating with your friends and end up with more candy than you know what to do with. You get tired of carrying your pillowcase full of candy, so you start to drag it along the ground. Your pillowcase has a mass of 8.7 kg and the coefficient of kinetic friction between your pillowcase and the ground is 0.20. It's time to catch up to your friends, so you take off, still dragging the bag. You pull on the bag with a force of 62 N at an angle of 57 degrees above the horizontal. - What is the magnitude of the Normal force acting on the bag? - What is the magnitude of the kinetic friction force acting on the bag? - What is the net acceleration of the bag?arrow_forwardThe sport of American football often involves athletes running at high speeds and smashing into each other. While they wear protective pads and helmets, their bodies still experience large decelerations and forces. In fact, some of the collisions between players, or between a player and the ground, are comparable to what a person might endure in an automobile accident. In 2017, a large study found that 110 out of 111 deceased NFL players had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disorder associated with repetitive head trauma (see photo). Other studies have linked CTE to higher rates of early onset dementia and memory loss. Consider an NFL player running at 3.92 m/s. During a collision and tackle, his head is brought to a stop in a distance of 0.125 m. (a) Calculate the magnitude of the deceleration of the player's head (assume the deceleration to be constant and treat this as a one-dimensional problem). How does it compare to the acceleration of gravity near the…arrow_forwardThe 4-Mg bus A is traveling to the right at 30 m/s. Meanwhile a 1-Mg car B is traveling at 20 m/s to the left. If vehicles crash and become entangled, determine the distance the vehicles will slide before they stop. The coefficient of kinetic friction between vehicles' tire and the road is μι-0.7. VA = 30 m/s Vg = 20 m/s Barrow_forward
- 4. Please answer in regular notation.arrow_forwardA hockey puck struck by a hockey stick is given an initial speed v0 in the positive x -direction. The coefficient of kinetic friction between the ice and the puck is μk . (a) Obtain an expression for the acceleration of the puck. (b) Use the result of part (a) to obtain an expression for the distance d the puck slides. The answer should be in terms of the variables v0 μ,k , and g only.arrow_forwardThe brakes on a big truck fail and it is forced to use a runaway truck lane. The lane is perfectly horizontal, and full of deep gravel, creating a coefficient of kinetic friction between the truck and the gravel of 0.80. The truck enters the lane at moving 35 m/s (about 80 mph). How far does the truck travel before it stops?arrow_forward
- You are driving through the Ouachita Mountains at 12m/s. You see a maple-leaf oak (Quercus acerifolia) crossing the road and hit the brakes, 20m away. The coefficient of kinetic friction between your tires and the road is μ_k = 0.7. Will you strike this endangered broadleaf? Justify your answer with a calculation.Your final answer should be the distance you will travel before coming to a stop.arrow_forwardAn empty box is travelling on the conveyor with 0.2 m/s, then 12 kg package is dropped into this box with 1 m/s speed. When dropped, package and box are immediately sticked together. Friction coefficeient between the box and the conveyor is μk = 0.2 . After the package dropped, package and box start sliding on the conveyor for some distance, d for t(sliding) amount of time. Determine the distance, d.arrow_forwardIn a shuffleboard game, the puck slides a total of 12 m on a horizontal surface before coming to rest. If the coefficient of kinetic friction between the puck and board is 0.10, what was the initial speed of the puck? 48.5 m/s 4.8 m/s 4.3 m/s 3.8 m/sarrow_forward
- College PhysicsPhysicsISBN:9781305952300Author:Raymond A. Serway, Chris VuillePublisher:Cengage LearningUniversity Physics (14th Edition)PhysicsISBN:9780133969290Author:Hugh D. Young, Roger A. FreedmanPublisher:PEARSONIntroduction To Quantum MechanicsPhysicsISBN:9781107189638Author:Griffiths, David J., Schroeter, Darrell F.Publisher:Cambridge University Press
- Physics for Scientists and EngineersPhysicsISBN:9781337553278Author:Raymond A. Serway, John W. JewettPublisher:Cengage LearningLecture- Tutorials for Introductory AstronomyPhysicsISBN:9780321820464Author:Edward E. Prather, Tim P. Slater, Jeff P. Adams, Gina BrissendenPublisher:Addison-WesleyCollege Physics: A Strategic Approach (4th Editio...PhysicsISBN:9780134609034Author:Randall D. Knight (Professor Emeritus), Brian Jones, Stuart FieldPublisher:PEARSON